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Data Types, Characters and Floating Point

Converting between real numbers and floating point

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 2

Overview

Turning a real number into a normalised mantissa and exponent and back again, worked in one stated format throughout, with the normalisation rule that fixes the mantissa.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How is a negative value written in floating point, and how is a mantissa normalised?

Process

Describe the steps for converting a positive real number to normalised floating point.

Numbers

Convert 5.5 to a 12-bit format with an 8-bit mantissa and a 4-bit exponent.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe the steps for converting a positive real number to normalised floating point.

    Model answer

    The number is first written in binary, then the binary point is moved to sit just after the sign bit. The number of places moved becomes the exponent.

  2. 2

    Convert 5.5 to a 12-bit format with an 8-bit mantissa and a 4-bit exponent.

    Model answer

    Denary 5.5 is 101.1 in binary, which normalises to 0.1011 × 2³. The mantissa is 01011000 and the exponent is 0011.

  3. 3

    Convert 0.375 to the same 12-bit format.

    Model answer

    Denary 0.375 is 0.011 in binary, which normalises to 0.11 × 2⁻¹. The mantissa is 01100000 and the exponent is 1111.

  4. 4

    State the value of the floating point number with mantissa 01101000 and exponent 0010.

    Model answer

    The mantissa 0.1101 is 0.8125 and the exponent is 2. The value is 0.8125 × 4, which is 3.25.

  5. 5

    State the value of the floating point number with mantissa 01000000 and exponent 0101.

    Model answer

    The mantissa 0.1 is 0.5 and the exponent is 5. The value is 0.5 × 32, which is 16.

  6. 6

    Convert −5.5 to the same 12-bit format.

    Model answer

    The mantissa for positive 5.5 is 01011000, whose two's complement is 10101000. The exponent stays 0011, so −5.5 is the mantissa 10101000 with exponent 0011.

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